


What Spring does with the Cherry Trees

by Square_Pancake



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Charles You Slut, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is not a Happy Bunny, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, past emotional trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 07:41:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5326127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Square_Pancake/pseuds/Square_Pancake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anytime their touches hinted at becoming more, loose change in Erik’s pocket would rattle, causing the man to break off.  When pressed for an explanation after the third time, Erik simply said he wasn’t ready.  The bleak tenor of his thoughts suggested that he was waiting for Charles to tell him that Erik wasn’t worth the wait and to walk away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Spring does with the Cherry Trees

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aesc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesc/gifts).



Charles moaned slightly as he shifted above Erik, snaking his hands along the other man’s chest. Erik’s gasp as Charles skillfully unbuttoned his shirt brought a small smirk to Charles’s lips.  After five weeks of dating, Charles was pleased to find himself on Erik’s couch moving in a rapidly more interesting direction.  For anyone less enthralling, Charles probably would have moved on when it became clear that Erik had no intention of joining him in bed anytime soon.

 

The first time their kisses had become heated, two weeks into their fledgling relationship, the metal hinges of the door Erik had him pressed against warped; the embarrassing tumble they had taken would have been a lot more tolerable had Erik not bolted immediately after he managed to fix the twisted hardware.

 

After that, Erik had pulled way back on physical intimacy.  Anytime their touches hinted at becoming more, loose change in Erik’s pocket would rattle, causing the man to break off.  When pressed for an explanation after the third time, Erik simply said he wasn’t ready.  The bleak tenor of his thoughts suggested that he was waiting for Charles to tell him that Erik wasn’t worth the wait and to walk away.

 

But Erik was worth it: mere hours in his company had given Charles enough of an incentive to stick it out.  For the time being, Charles didn’t press. Erik saying that he wasn’t ready meant that he thought that he might be in the future.  Pushing him wouldn’t help.  Erik was one of the most stubborn men Charles had ever met, possibly a product of his rather unique thought processes.  His mind was polycrystalline, lattices of beliefs and behaviors giving some form of structure to the amorphous chaos of overwhelming responses that Charles wasn’t sure Erik even knew he repressed.  

 

Waiting for whichever ordered section needed to reorient was hardly a sacrifice when Charles could already bask in the sheer strength of Erik’s emotional reactions: reactions invisible to anyone without Charles’s abilities.

 

It didn’t make the sexual tension any easier to bear though.

 

Charles had never spent so much time with his hand on his own cock.  Even in high school he’d had enough casual partners that he’d never had to look far for a helping hand.  Still, he reminded himself that patience was a virtue, and as an adult he could tolerate some sexual frustration while his chosen partner worked out what he wanted.

 

So now, with his hips grinding down against Erik’s promisingly large erection, Charles was hopeful that the other man had decided he was ready.  There was no change rattling- Charles distantly thought Erik had probably only carried coins the coat he had tossed on the table when they entered the apartment.

 

Of course, that was when one of the slightly menacing metal sculptures Erik kept in his living room slammed across the room, nearly grazing Charles’s head before colliding with a wall.  One look at Charles’s wide eyes had Erik scrambling away, falling off the sofa in his haste, his unbuttoned shirt fluttering like a cape behind him. Although Charles tried to contain it, a frisson of disappointment must have leaked out, because Erik immediately went white and slid down the side of the sofa and to the floor.

 

Charles was an excellent teacher.  He was good at charming people in an official capacity.  He managed to soothe some of the most outspoken mutantphobes with his crisp accent, non-threatening looks and scientific patter.

 

Charles was not good at navigating the minefields of personal relationships.  In his youth, he had arrogantly assumed that telepathy would be a sop for any conflict; he could see what the problem really was, and help his partner understand his own (correct) perspective.  When his expectations had shattered against reality, Charles at least had the meager comfort of knowing that it wasn’t just telepaths who thought that they alone acted rationally and everyone else was too emotional.

 

Unfortunately, while Charles had managed to outgrow his belief that people could be solved like puzzles once you gathered the pieces, he had not magically found an easier way to make relationships work.  But letting Erik retreat hadn’t helped.  The man still clearly was panicked about something, and since he had been enjoying their activities right up until the metal went flying, Charles was reasonably certain he knew what the issue was.

 

He carefully slid along the couch, then slipped down next to Erik on the floor.

 

“I know that you’ve said you’re not ready, and that’s fine.  Whatever reasons you have for not wanting to hop into bed, it’s your body and your choice.  But I’d rather you let me help with any problem, Erik.”  Charles winced at his bluntness. But being upfront was better than manipulating the other man, and if Erik didn’t want to explain, Charles was relatively certain that he’d left enough of an out.

 

Erik’s breath grew a bit unsteady and Charles could feel him pulling for the anger that often simmered under his skin.  It seemed to be the only emotion he consistently accepted.  Instinctively, Charles wanted to soothe the anger, to moderate the emotion after too much time in his childhood associating other people’s anger with his own pain.  

 

He was glad he refrained when the anger seemed to seep out of Erik’s thoughts. His shoulders echoed the misery that swept through his mind, collapsing forward as Erik rested his head against his bent knees.

 

“I’m sorry Charles,” he choked out.  “It’s just humiliating.  Most mutants gain control after puberty.”

 

Charles didn’t say anything, but he did slide an arm around Erik’s shoulders, making sure not to touch skin so the comfort wouldn’t be misinterpreted.  

 

Erik continued, “it’s just that I can’t…” he trailed off with a shuddering exhale.

 

Charles frowned.  “Erik, it’s not unusual for a mutant to lose control of their powers during emotional times, even adults at times.  Clearly you have enough control that you haven’t hurt me.  Has it been a problem in your past sexual relationships?”

 

The silence seemed more oppressive than any answer could have been.  Charles and Erik had discussed their past relationships, but never in much detail.  Charles wasn’t about to brag about past encounters when he was trying to form something more permanent; Erik had quietly admitted that his high school girlfriend had dumped him because she was scared of his powers and that had soured him on relationships.

 

Charles hadn’t realized it had kept Erik from aspects of intimacy other than emotional. He felt a bit embarrassed as he rapidly reassessed what he knew, and kicked himself for not realizing that Erik’s hesitance in their own physical activities probably had kept him from more casual encounters as well.

 

Charles was grateful that he managed to literally bite his own tongue instead of blurting “you’re a virgin.”

 

Erik seemed to sense the shift in Charles’s understanding though, because he continued, “the first time Magda and I ever got to anything below the waist, I almost crushed the car we were in the second she touched my cock.  She was terrified.” There was a painful echo in Erik’s mind of Magda calling him a monster in her terror. Charles curled closer, trying to offer a physical sop to the emotional ache.

 

“And then, anytime I got close with another person, I could feel myself losing control.  After a couple of close calls, I just gave up.”  Erik finally turned towards Charles, meeting his eyes at last before admitting, “no one else has been willing to stick with me long enough for me to get over it.”

 

Charles carefully tested the waters.  “Do you want me to leave?”

 

At Erik’s alarmed gaze, he hastened to add, “not permanently.  I don’t want to break up.  It’s just that in the past you’ve wanted space when something like this happens.”

 

Erik shook his head, but didn’t offer anything else. A fog of confusion hung around him; he wanted Charles to stay, but he didn’t have the words to express anything else.

 

“Do you want me to try helping you?” Charles finally ventured after they had sat in silence for a few minutes.

 

“Helping me how?” Asked Erik quietly. He was too proud to beg for an answer, but Charles could taste the desperation for a solution.

 

He didn’t want to offer this solution, but it would be unfair to make the decision for the other man, so Charles said, “there’s one option that I’m not too keen on, but I can dampen your powers if you like.”

 

“What?”

 

Erik sounded more confused than upset, so Charles explained.  “If you can’t control your powers, I can, well, take over that part of your mind during sex.”

 

A small part of Erik’s mind perked up in intrigue at the suggestion, and Charles carefully filed that idea away for later.  Erik did seem as though he’d enjoy someone taking control of his pleasure.  But that was perhaps a bit too much for their first forays into sex.

 

“Why are you ‘not too keen’ on that idea?”  Erik even did the air quotes with his hands, which made Charles snort before he answered.

 

“It could be very sexy,” Charles admitted, “I could make sure you felt the metal all around you while holding you down with your own powers.  Touching you everywhere while you just had to accept it.”  

 

The combination of desire and alarm reminded Charles that he was trying to give Erik options, not seduce him into mutual experimentation.  

 

“But giving me control like that isn’t a longterm solution,” Charles continued.  “I want you to experience all different aspects of sex, and starting off with suppressing your power like that may make you dependant on me taking control.”

 

“And you don’t want to be in control?” Erik asked.

 

“Not always,” Charles admitted.

 

“So what else can you suggest?”  A small ember of hope was sparking in Erik and Charles hoped to coax it into a fully fledged fire.

 

Charles licked his lips.  “Do you mind moving to the bedroom? It would be more comfortable while we talk about this.  Not that your floor isn’t great,” Charles offered wryly.  Gulping, Erik nodded before standing and offering Charles a hand up.  

 

Charles had never seen the other man’s bedroom.  Rather than indulge in the flirtatious drawl that normally came to his lips when entering a lover’s bedroom for the first time, Charles simply walked over the bed, sat down and slid until his back was resting against the headboard. He spread his legs and patted the mattress, “please sit here, Erik.”

 

Charles could see Erik’s jaw clench slightly before he bit back questions and moved onto the bed.   

 

At first Erik sat stiffly, but Charles carefully coaxed him into shifting until his chest was pressed up against the other man’s back.  A covertly moved pillow under his own seat kept Charles from being entirely covered by the taller man.

 

“Do you touch yourself, Erik?” Charles asked quietly.

 

Erik laughed harshly, “Are you really asking if I jerk off, Charles?”  His back, previously relaxed tensed under the perceived mockery.

 

Charles ran soothing hands along Erik’s shoulders, this time allowing his fingertips to trace along Erik’s skin.  

 

“It’s a sincere question, Erik.”

 

“Yes,” Erik admitted through gritted teeth.

 

“And you don’t have any problems with your powers when you masturbate?”  Charles did his best to keep his voice sultry instead of clinical. He wanted a lover, not a patient.

 

At Erik’s negative response, Charles smiled, his expression hidden, but his pleasure rippling out slightly before he reined it back in.

 

“Can I see?”

 

Erik froze.  “What?” he demanded.  But there was no real question in his tone or mind, just shock.

 

“I’d very much like to watch, to see you stroke yourself and bring yourself pleasure.”  Erik didn’t respond, but Charles could feel him shift as though relieving sudden pressure in his pants.  

 

So Charles continued, “I’d love to see you pull out your cock.  It felt huge under me before.  I can almost picture what it looks like, especially since as a good Jewish boy I’m sure you’re circumcised.”

 

Erik’s breath became more rapid as Charles continued.  “Is the scar sensitive? Or maybe other parts.  Have you tried to finger yourself open before, imagined feeling another person inside of you?”

 

Charles detected that Erik’s shuddering breaths were being echoed in the metal bedframe so he changed direction.  He slid his hands back to Erik’s shoulders and loosely gripped him through the barrier of the shirt. “I won’t lay a finger on you, Erik.  I’ll just sit and watch.  No surprises, no pressure.  You don’t have to put on a show, you don’t have to come, I just want to see your hands bringing you pleasure.”  

 

He paused, then added, “please.”

 

Erik’s hands were shaking slightly as he unzipped his pants and slid them down his legs.  He hesitated for a moment over his boxers, fingers running along the elastic band nervously.  

 

Charles tried to reassure him, “Erik, we don’t have to do anything.  Just sitting here like this, letting you get used to being near someone while you are aroused is a step forward.”

 

“Before you said that you don’t want to always be in control.” Erik said, still toying with the waistband.  

 

“That’s true,” Charles admitted, “but this isn’t about control.”

 

“But if I do this, will you do the same?”

 

“The same what?”

 

Erik hooked his thumbs into his boxers and pulled them off, leaving his half-hardened cock bare against his thigh.  He reached out and slid his right hand along the shaft, rubbing his forefinger along the ridge of his circumcision scar. Charles could see how the callouses on Erik's fingertips caught slightly on the soft skin of his cock.  He was rougher with himself than Charles expected, and he wondered if that was a preference, or just nerves from being watched.

 

As he continued to stroke, Erik admitted, “I’d like to see you jerk off.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yes, I don’t know if it would help me,” Erik’s left hand moved to his own chest and he ran his fingernails along the edge of his nipple, “but it would be super hot.” The last part of his statement was more moan than words, but Charles got the jist.

 

Charles kept his hands on Erik’s shoulders, keeping the grip light and non-distracting.  “I want you to keep touching yourself, Erik, while I talk to you. Tell me if you need me to be quiet.”

 

A Erik’s frantic nod of agreement, Charles cleared his throat.  Dirty talk was never his forte, but if it helped Erik, Charles was more than willing to do his best.  At least it would be easier now with Erik right in front of him than when he awkwardly tried phone sex in college.

 

“Of course I’ll jerk off for you.  But I admit that I usually use a toy.”  Erik inhaled sharply through his nostrils and Charles noticed his cock twitched in his hand.  Charles carefully moved his hips back to keep his own growing erection from distracting Erik.  "My hands are nice, but I get too easily distracted."

 

“My toy isn’t as big as you are,” Charles noted, slightly amused by the spark of pride in Erik’s mind at the comment.  “But I like to stretch myself with just one finger before I use it.  The burn as I slide the toy inside makes me feel like I’m being completely filled, and I love how physical it is.”

 

Erik’s left hand moved to press in against his perineum, his right hand still sliding along his fully erect cock.

 

“I think you’d like watching. You could see me sliding the toy into my ass, see how even when I’m the one controlling it, I can’t help but arch into each thrust.  But eventually, you’d get frustrated with the sorry imitation.  You’d want to pull the toy free and replace it with something better.”  

 

Erik was moaning now, but Charles noted that not a single piece of metal was twitching.  “Eventually, you’ll get to the point that you’ll fill me with your own cock, thrusting into me so hard that I’ll realize that no toy could possibly fill me again.”

 

Erik stiffened, his cock jerking as he came messily across his lap, small drops hitting as high as his shoulder.  Without meaning to, Charles coasted on the wave of Erik’s orgasm, his vision whiting out as he felt the heat of his own come slide along the inside of his still zipped fly.

 

Still the metal in the room remained unmoved.

 

Charles allowed Erik to recover, keeping his place behind the other man, but not touching more than his shoulders until Erik slid back and relaxed into him. The pressure on his softening cock was a bit uncomfortable, but the vision of Erik debauched in front of him, satiated and calm was more than enough to overcome that discomfort.

 

While not crass enough to thank Erik for the show, Charles did carefully preserve the memory for future remembrances.

 

“You really think I’ll be able to do that?” Erik finally asked.

 

It took a moment for Charles to track his line of thought.  It was the hazy image of Erik pulling Charles onto his cock that allowed Charles to understand.

 

“Yes.  It may take some time, but I absolutely believe that it will happen.  And if it’s too overwhelming at first, there are other things we can try.”  

 

When Erik sent a mental query his way, Charles sent a silent thanks to his varied sexual past.  In response, he offered Erik a buffet of sexual choices, from Erik using a toy on Charles to keep some distance, to Erik being restrained as his cock was slowly sucked, his struggle focused only on the leather cuffs that held him, and a wide variety of things Charles had done, or seen in other people’s minds reframed for Erik’s pleasure. Finally Charles ended on the image of them seated like they were now, only both were naked and stroking themselves as they kissed softly, their lips the only point of physical contact between them.  

 

The last image hung between them and a tension seeped from Erik’s shoulders.  “That would be enough?” he asked hesitantly.  “I mean, I want more, and would like more.  But I can’t promise anything more.  I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

 

Charles gave this the thought it was due before he said, “being together like that? That’s what I need, yes.  Everything else is a bonus, but seeing you like this is enough. Knowing that you want me and trust me enough to watch you.”

 

Erik twisted and pulled Charles down into a kiss, gratitude and happiness filling the spaces between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Secret Mutant prompt:
> 
> Just, like, give me sexy experienced Charles despoiling virginal, confused, and angry Erik. It's my favorite thing. It can be canon or any flavor of AU, including A/O and BDSM.
> 
>  
> 
> The title is from Neruda's [Love Poem XIV](http://hellopoetry.com/poem/9920/every-day-you-play/), Neruda's Sublime.


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